Sidwell college guidance office

[Anonymous]

Those college counsellors at Field must be truly amazing. People on these boards keep raving about them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would add that kids are applying to many more schools. With the common application this is easier now.

I remember about 5 (?) years ago the college counsellor at NCS angered many parents by only allowing certain kids to apply to certain schools. She had the power to tell girls she would not advocate for them if they disobeyed her.

I need an education as my kids are still in lower school. How can a college counselor dictate what colleges your child can apply to? I understand advising but dictating? Yes, if you have a C average you might be discouraged from MIT but I would think you could still apply if you pay the appkication fee. Insight please.

[Anonymous]

NP. You can, of course, apply anywhere you like. But whether or not the GC will advocate for you (your child) is a different story.

[Anonymous]

NCS's guidance counseling is abysmal. Can't imagine Sidwell's is any worse. The girls get acceptance despite the counseling, not because of it.

[Anonymous]

It's interesting that the ncs parents also think their cc office is underperforming. Sidwell and NCS probably have the two most demanding curriculums in the area. Kids work their asses off but the schools don't follow through on college counseling. I don't read much into the idea that ncs cc office wouldn't support a particular candidate's app for a particular school. That happens every year at every school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would add that kids are applying to many more schools. With the common application this is easier now.

I remember about 5 (?) years ago the college counsellor at NCS angered many parents by only allowing certain kids to apply to certain schools. She had the power to tell girls she would not advocate for them if they disobeyed her.

Yes, absolutely the prevalence of the Common App -- and the ability to do any application on your computer instead of typing them all out (!!!) -- has resulted in many more applications in the aggregate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NCS's guidance counseling is abysmal. Can't imagine Sidwell's is any worse. The girls get acceptance despite the counseling, not because of it.

I was told 7 kids got into Harvard this year (out of a class of 81). So, they must be doing something right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: It's interesting that the ncs parents also think their cc office is underperforming. Sidwell and NCS probably have the two most demanding curriculums in the area. Kids work their asses off but the schools don't follow through on college counseling. I don't read much into the idea that ncs cc office wouldn't support a particular candidate's app for a particular school. That happens every year at every school.

Suckers.

[Anonymous]

7 to Harvard from NCS 6 from GDS 10 from STA how many from Sidwell?

[Anonymous]

Maybe 2 from sidwell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Sidwell parent of a recent graduate. To say the least, the college counseling program has a mixed reputation within the school community. Certainly, lots of kids get in to great schools but not at the rate that meet parents' expectations. I don't know if that's because of unrealistic expectations or because the counselors are lame. I suspect it's a little bit of both. Parents at other schools do seem more enthusiastic about their college counselors. While I have heard satisfaction from parents about the Sidwell college counseling, I have never heard anyone be strongly supportive.

+1 -- Yes, as other PPs have noted, parents' expectations are often unrealistic and too many kids apply to the same schools (a couple of years back I heard that something like 25-30% of the class applied to Tufts). But, that said, the counseling programs at all the top DC area independents, as well as similar schools around the country, have to contend with these factors. Based on exmissions lists and even the most casual survey of what other counseling programs are doing, it's clear that SFS isn't responding as adeptly as other schools.

Some examples:
Instead of leaving it up to students to submit a list of 30 (yes, 30) schools to look at over the summer before senior year), they can do a much better job of working with kids and parents earlier on to develop a more targeted list based on each student's individual profile. Instead of telling kids they don't need to work on their essays until September of senior year -- way too late, especially for students who are fall athletes and/or carrying a demanding courseload -- they could run summer workshops on essay-writing as many other schools do. Instead of relying on the legacies, URMs and recruited athletes (my own kids fall into 2 of 3 of these categories) to gain admission to the most selective schools, they could do more to help the many unhooked kids who are still very strong candidates. Eric is a nice guy and he genuinely means well, but, honestly, his departure is a chance to stop blaming parents and end the excuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:7 to Harvard from NCS 6 from GDS 10 from STA how many from Sidwell?

basing a school's performance on "harvard admits" is a faulty measure and helps nobody on this site trying to get reliable info. different high schools have cultures that lead to a colleges that "fit" better for their students. if harvard is your goal, you are likely to be disappointed and more importantly, have no perspective.

[Anonymous]

I have a close friend whose dd went from Sidwell to one of the HYP schools (deliberately not saying which) in the past few years. The Sidwell guidance office failed to support her application for early admittance because they were advocating for an athlete to go and didn't want to spread themselves too thin. The dd was not accepted early, but was accepted at the "normal" time.

I think this choosing which students to support happens at most of the elite schools.

[Anonymous]

I have researched many colleges since DC was a freshman basing on DC's interests at the time. DC is a rising junior and interests have changed but some academic interests have gotten stronger. We have eliminated some colleges, some on the back burner, some a second look, etc.

My point being that we started early, and I am an active participant in helping DC find colleges that are a good fit. No way would I put her future fully in the hands of the college counselor, no matter how competent. We might even consider outside placement professionals but that remains to be seen. Ultimately, the choice is DC's but every student should get the benefit of their parent(s) experience who attended college and know the bumps and bruises along the way.

[Anonymous]

In our experience Sidwell did not refuse to "support" any reasonable candidate for a school they wanted to apply to early. Yale often seems to be the school of choice (vs Harvard or Princeton) and in my DDs class 10-12 kids applied there EA, all were strong candidates, about 6-7 got in (some with hooks but most without) the rest got deferred or maybe one reject. 3-4 also later got into Harvard regular admit and all chose Yale.
Anyway, Sidwell college counseling was not perfect, but the advice we received was generally spot-on and the process, if followed and carried through by the kid (not the parent) does result in a reasonable array of safeties, reaches and mid-range schools. The people leaving were competent but not inspiring, the one remaining counselor and teacher was actually very good. They do limit the number of places to be applied to (8-9?) but I believe so do many of the other independent schools. They say to take some of the stress off the kids in terms of all the supplemental essays, make them be thoughtful about it, and also not flood schools with so many applicants from their school that no one can be all that effectively advocated for.